


Nothing Better Than This

by ladybonehollows



Category: Legendborn - Tracy Deonn
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:36:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29650749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladybonehollows/pseuds/ladybonehollows
Summary: Nick and Sel help their kids spoil Bree for her birthday
Relationships: Nick Davis/Selwyn Kane/Bree Matthews
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Nothing Better Than This

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElectricPurple89](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElectricPurple89/gifts).



> Happy birthday to the most wonderful Steph! I hope you enjoy!

As soon as I woke, I knew without opening my eyes that the bed was empty. After so many years, I was used to the way the bed dipped around us when I wasn’t alone. I stretched out one arm in front of me, and then behind, but the sheets were cold.

I rolled onto my back, stretching my shoulders and trying not to feel disappointed to wake up alone. I had a busy day ahead — lunch with my dad, catching up with Alice in the afternoon, and then a dinner reservation that I wasn’t supposed to know about — and I was a little regretful not to have a quiet moment of sleepy kisses and soft smiles and warm bodies before I rose to the chaos of the household beyond the bedroom.

A quiet moment by myself would have to do. I let out a long breath, letting my body sink into the mattress, my eyes sliding shut as my mind drifted to the music of the birdsong from the yard.

But even that quiet moment wasn’t fated to last. A shuffle of footsteps outside the bedroom door reached my ears, a hum of low voices that had me opening my eyes and propping myself up on my elbows.

I grinned. What lay on the other side of the door was infinitely better than a lazy morning.

“Now remember,” Nick said softly, his voice muffled through the door. “We’re waking her up, but we’re going to be quiet about it. We agreed not to go for the jumping on the bed option.”

“ _You_ agreed not to go for the jumping on the bed option,” muttered a sullen voice.

“Rhys.”

A heavy sigh. “ _Fine.”_

I watched as the doorknob turned, and the door swung inward a few inches before —

“Wait!”

The whispered word was so loud that I had to pull the quilt up to cover my mouth to stifle my laughter.

“What is it, Faye?” Nick’s voice was the blend of patient and exasperated that only a parent could manage.

“We forgot the garnish for the eggs.”

“Oh. Well, it looks great without it.”

A scandalised gasp. “I picked the parsley from the garden myself, Pa! We _have_ to use it.”

“Yeah, Pa,” came a fourth voice, dry with amusement. “We _have_ to.”

Nick gave a long suffering sigh, and I could just imagine the look he was throwing Sel’s way. “Okay Faye, run and get it. _Quiet_...ly.” The second part of the word came on yet another sigh as small feet slapped loudly against the floorboards on the way back to the kitchen. “Thanks for encouraging her.”

“You are _most_ welcome, Nicholas.”

My grin shifted into something softer as I listened to the two men bicker quietly. They’d both mellowed out over the years, the sharp edges of their banter smoothing over as we’d learned to trust each other, to depend on each other, as we learned to love without the threat of soul crushing destinies hanging over our heads. We’d defeated the Shadowborn — hopefully for good — over fifteen years ago, and now Nick’s biggest responsibility lay in raising our two children, and Sel’s deathly glowers were reserved for the teachers who took issue with the fact that our ten year old daughter could correct them on matters of history.

This life is nothing like I could have imagined, but I loved every second of it.

The door finally started to swing the rest of the way open, and I quickly closed my eyes, relaxing my muscles and forcing my breathing to come long and slow. I heard a series of footsteps, and then whispers from right beside the bed. The comfortable smell of bacon reached my nose and threatened to make my stomach growl. There was silence for a good few seconds, and I was just starting to wonder if I was supposed to magically wake up by myself just from their proximity when two young voices screamed “ _Happy birthday!”_ at the top of their lungs.

I didn’t need to pretend as I started, blinking up at Faye and Rhys. Just behind them, Nick put his head in his hands. Sel watched me, a heavily laden tray in his hands and a knowing smirk curling his lips.

Faye, the eldest, grinned up at me, her amber eyes shining with delight. Beside her, Rhys was bouncing on the balls of his feet with glee, shoulder to shoulder with his sister despite the two years between them. I loved them both fiercely.

The Regents hadn't approved of any part of our relationship, particularly when we'd decided to add to our family. We'd all quietly (or not so quietly) told them to shove it and done it anyway. The threat was gone — none of the Lines had been called for years, not a single Scion, and I didn't care whether I'd grown too old for Arthur to flow through me. I'd do whatever it took to protect my children.

Still, we'd taken some small contingencies. My firstborn, Arthur's direct heir, didn't have the blood of another line running through her veins (although the Regents had been aghast at the idea of mixing Arthur's blood with a Merlin's). Nick's first biological child _was_ still of Arthur's line, but all three of his parents would fight tooth and nail at even the _thought_ of what would have to happen for his conflicting bloodlines to be an issue.

I opened my arms, and my whole world fell into them, my children jumping up onto the bed to climb into my arms. I held them tight, kissed the tops of their heads, and then pulled back to grin up at Nick and Sel. "Is that all for me?" I asked, nodding to the tray in Sel's hands.

"We got up early just to make it for you!" Faye exclaims, clearly proud of herself. "We did _everything._ "

"It's true, they did," Nick said with a grin, while Sel mouthed, "Almost everything."

Faye and Rhys shuffled backwards, tugging on my arms until all three of us were leaning against the headboard. Sel stepped forward and lowered the tray across my lap, and I took in the small stack of pancakes, the sliced fresh fruit, the mug of coffee, the crunchy bacon and scrambled eggs.

"You did amazing," I said. "Look, there's even garnish on my eggs!"

Sel coughed in a way that sounded an awful lot like laughter.

I picked up her knife and fork, speared a piece of bacon, and made a big show of how much I enjoyed it. It wasn't bad, actually, if a little _too_ far on the crispy side. After the third bite, though, I was starting to feel a little too watched.

Sel came to my rescue. “If you give us five minutes with your mother, I’ll meet you outside and Faye and I can make aether puppies for Rhys to chase around the garden.”

“Really?” Faye and Rhys said in unison, both elated with the idea.

“Really.” He’d barely finished the word before they were both pressing a kiss to my cheeks and then clambering off the bed. I held the tray steady so the coffee wouldn’t spill. Sel shook his head, watching them run through the door before turning back to me. “Were you already awake, or did the whisper-shouting at the door wake you up?”

“Oh no, really?” Nick said, and then laughed. “Damn it.”

“I was awake. Just.” I tore off a piece of a pancake and popped it in my mouth. “They really did all this?"

"Sel and I did most of the cooking," Nick said. "But they chopped and mixed and whisked everything."

"Ah," I said. "So you're to blame for my overcooked bacon."

"What!"

I tried not to laugh at Nick's protest, but the light in Sel's eyes pulled it out of me anyway. Nick grinned at me sheepishly, and suddenly I didn't want breakfast as much as I wanted their arms around me. My hands gripped the sides of the tray once more, but Nick was there before I could lift it, taking it from me and turning to set it on the bedside table. "Come here," I said, reaching for them both.

My boys climbed back into bed on either side of me, the three of us sinking down to lay tangled up in each other. My favourite place to be. "Thank you," I said, smiling as I turned my head to feel Nick's lips against my cheek.

His arms tightened around me, and I settled back against his chest. I turned back to Sel, who took my hand in his and raised it to his lips to press a kiss into my palm. "Happy birthday, Bree."


End file.
